March 13, 2000

Asbestos-laced dust from a vermiculite mine near Libby, Mont., has caused illness and death among locals for decades, but it is only recently that the media - and victims - have called W.R. Grace & Co. to account.

Feature

Asbestos-laced dust from a vermiculite mine near Libby,
Mont., has caused illness and death among locals for decades, but
it is only recently that the media - and victims - have called W.R.
Grace & Co. to account.

A Montana mill owner's plan to send 10,000 shovels to
Elko, Nev., so sagebrush rebels can re-open a road closed by the
Forest Service, is "a triumph of symbolism over substance,"
according to the writer.

News

After a 14-hour hearing packed with anti-growth activists,
Garfield County Commissioners vote down Sanders Ranch, a huge
development that would create a new town between Glenwood Springs
and Carbondale.

Environmentalists are fighting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service's decision to no longer accept petitions seeking to move
species off the agency's candidates list and up to formal
threatened and endangered status.